General
Braxton Bragg was born in Warren county, North Carolina,
March 22, 1817. He was graduated fifth in the class of 1837
at the United States military academy, and received his
lieutenancy in the artillery. He served mainly in Florida
during the Indian troubles, until 1843, then was in garrison
at Fort Moultrie until 1845, when he took part in the
occupation of Texas. In the subsequent war with Mexico he
served with distinguished gallantry, and was brevetted
captain for conduct in defense of Fort Brown, major for valor
at Monterey, and lieutenant-colonel for his special services
at Buena Vista. He became captain, Third artillery, June,
1846, was on the staff of General Gaines, and on garrison
duty until 1855, when he declined promotion to major of First
cavalry. He resigned January 3, 1856, and became a planter at
Thibodeaux, Louisiana, serving his State, 1859-61, as
commissioner of public works.
In February, 1861,
he was put in command of the army of Louisiana, and on March
7th was commissioned brigadier-general in the provisional
army of the Confederate States, and assigned to the command
of the troops and defenses at Pensacola, which he held until
January 27, 1862, in the meantime having been promoted
major-general and lieutenant-general and assigned to the
command of the department of Alabama and West Florida.
In March, 1862, he
marched his forces to Corinth, whence in command of the
second corps of the army he participated in the movement
against Grant and the battle of Shiloh. In this famous combat
Albert Sidney Johnston fell, and Beauregard succeeded to the
general command, while Bragg was promoted general and
assigned to the command of the army of the Mississippi, with
Polk, Hardee and Breckinridge as his corps commanders. When
after the evacuation of Corinth the army had retired to
Tupelo, Beauregard, on account of illness, turned over the
command temporarily to Bragg and went to Mobile. Beauregard
was thereupon relieved and Bragg appointed as his successor.
He was now in
command of the department and all the forces arrayed against
the Federal invasion between the Mississippi river and
Atlanta, except the command of General Kirby Smith, in East
Tennessee. He planned a campaign into Kentucky before Buell
was ready to oppose him, hoping by a bold offensive movement
to arouse the friends of the Confederate cause in the border
States and drive the enemy beyond the Ohio. He transferred
his troops to Chattanooga, and set out on his northward
movement about the middle of August, Kirby Smith moving with
a separate command in cooperation. At Munfordville he
captured over 4,000 Federal soldiers, and then moved his army
to Bardstown, and with his staff joined Kirby Smith at
Lexington, where on October 4th, Hon. Richard Hawes was
installed as Confederate provisional governor of Kentucky. At
Perryville he encountered Buell's army and was victorious at
every point, striking such a severe blow that he was able
subsequently to move without loss to his large trains of
captured stores, back to Knoxville. Preparing at once for a
movement into Middle Tennessee he reached Murfreesboro
November 26, 1862, about the date when General J. E. Johnston
was appointed to the general command of the new department of
the West, including the forces of Smith, Bragg and Pemberton.
On December 30th-31st he repulsed the advance of Rosecrans'
army upon his position, gaining a notable victory, but on
January 2d he was himself repulsed in an attack on the
Federal left. He retreated to Tullahoma, where Johnston was
empowered to relieve him of command if that commander thought
best, but the result of a visit by Johnston was the retention
of Bragg in command. In the latter part of June, 1863, he
withdrew to Chattanooga, and thence in September, on account
of the Federal forces appearing to the south, fell back into
Georgia, where near the Tennessee line the great battle of
Chickamauga was fought by the Confederate army under his
command September 19th and 20th. It resulted in the complete
rout of Rosecrans, the command of George H. Thomas alone
holding its ground during the battle. Subsequently he
besieged the beaten Federals at Chattanooga and sent
Longstreet against Knoxville. When the beleaguered Federals
were on the point of starvation they were heavily reinforced
by Grant, and the Confederates were forced to retire from
Missionary Ridge.
On February 24,
1864, he was assigned to duty at Richmond, under direction of
the President, charged with the conduct of the military
operations of the armies of the Confederate States. In
November following he was given command of the department of
North Carolina, and in January, 1865, he commanded the army
at Wilmington, and the troops of his department in the final
operations against Sherman including the battle of
Bentonville. After the surrender at Appomattox he accompanied
President Davis through South Carolina and into Georgia, and
after peace was restored, having lost all his property, he
became engaged as a civil engineer at New Orleans, and
superintended harbor improvements at Mobile. He died at
Galveston, Texas, September 27, 1876. He was an officer of
remarkable industry and conscientiousness, and unspotted
character. He never praised others nor allowed himself to be
flattered. His devotion to duty led him to neglect those
amenities of social life which are valuable even in war, and
he suffered in consequence, but no one ever questioned his
patriotism, or his courage.